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Arrival

Play trailer 1:00 Poster for Arrival PG-13 Released Nov 11, 2016 1h 56m Sci-Fi Mystery & Thriller Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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94% Tomatometer 442 Reviews 82% Popcornmeter 50,000+ Ratings
Linguistics professor Louise Banks (Amy Adams) leads an elite team of investigators when gigantic spaceships touch down in 12 locations around the world. As nations teeter on the verge of global war, Banks and her crew must race against time to find a way to communicate with the extraterrestrial visitors. Hoping to unravel the mystery, she takes a chance that could threaten her life and quite possibly all of mankind.
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Arrival

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Critics Consensus

Arrival delivers a must-see experience for fans of thinking person's sci-fi that anchors its heady themes with genuinely affecting emotion and a terrific performance from Amy Adams.

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Critics Reviews

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Alexandra Heller-Nicholas The Blue Lenses Arrival transcends the limitations that so often govern the less creative examples of the subgenre, instead using it as a loose conceptual foundation upon which to build a theoretically-informed examination of what precisely ... makes us human. Aug 25, 2018 Full Review Kristen Lopez Culturess Arrival couldn't have arrived (pun intended) at a better time. Nov 20, 2017 Full Review K. Austin Collins The Ringer I think of Arrival in terms of color: the milky grays of the clouds rolling over the Montana plain; the bright blue of computer screens bouncing off the gray tents on the makeshift army compound. Aug 10, 2017 Full Review JD Duran InSession Film The film works as a powerful allegory for how we try to decode and interpret the tragedies of our lives. Aug 8, 2024 Full Review Ankit Ojha Cinema Elite Without spoiling too much, let’s just say Villeneuve and Heisserer use the Kuleshov effect to turn the non-linear storytelling of “Arrival” from a gimmick to an indispensable part of the film. Rated: 4.5/5 Jul 9, 2024 Full Review Anthony McGlynn Vague Visages Arrival is a work that resents the necessity of violence. However, the film ditches some of the meditative qualities of the bleakness-to-idealism dialectic of the album in favor of making a cold hard stand against war and those who clamour for it. Feb 6, 2024 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Jonathan F Extremely short-paced, felt like most of the movie was empty without a real driving story. I would have hoped for more action. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/05/22 Full Review Katie D An amazing film! very well-done, thought-provoking, entertaining and unpredictable. my only complaint is about the loud horn blasts that accompany so many science fiction movie scenes - unnecessary, unrealistic and distracting! other than that it was awesome! Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/15/21 Full Review Levi P. Thought-provoking but a bit dry and dark for my tastes. Sci-fi is my top genre nowadays, so I was super excited to watch this. As expected, it’s a great look at what a first contact event might look like. The premise of the movie alone is fascinating, and the execution mostly lives up to it (at least one specific part of it). The story definitely feels more like thoughtful literature vs a hollywood flick. I came away feeling… very sad, but also like something was missing. For my tastes, and being a parent, I found the kid storyline hard to watch (seriously, I need a trigger warning for kid/parent trauma). That said, it does serve a purpose and gives the watcher a dilemma to gnaw on after the credits roll. As for what was missing, I was a bit disappointed at how narrow in scope the film was. I feel like the concept of aliens landing on Earth is such a fascinating concept, and I would have liked to get a wider view of how humanity handled it. While we got some of that, it was a B or C storyline in the background. For me, the linguistic aspects were not interesting enough to take up so much screen time. All that said, I acknowledge the movie was well executed, and just wasn’t necessarily my cup of tea. Nothing really stuck with me, but if you like hard, focused sci-fi, you will love this. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 07/06/25 Full Review Dave H It was definitely okay. Not brilliant but worth a watch. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 07/05/25 Full Review Tom F I enjoyed my original viewing but my 2025 rewatch opened me to more layers of emotional depth. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 06/29/25 Full Review Jared R. A touching and heartwarming masterpiece. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/28/25 Full Review Read all reviews
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Arrival

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Movie Info

Synopsis Linguistics professor Louise Banks (Amy Adams) leads an elite team of investigators when gigantic spaceships touch down in 12 locations around the world. As nations teeter on the verge of global war, Banks and her crew must race against time to find a way to communicate with the extraterrestrial visitors. Hoping to unravel the mystery, she takes a chance that could threaten her life and quite possibly all of mankind.
Director
Denis Villeneuve
Producer
Shawn Levy, Dan Levine, Aaron Ryder, David Linde
Screenwriter
Eric Heisserer
Distributor
Paramount Pictures
Production Co
21 Laps Entertainment, Lava Bear Films, FilmNation
Rating
PG-13 (Brief Strong Language)
Genre
Sci-Fi, Mystery & Thriller, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Nov 11, 2016, Wide
Rerelease Date (Theaters)
Jan 27, 2017
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 31, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA)
$100.5M
Runtime
1h 56m
Sound Mix
Dolby Digital
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